WASHINGTON, D.C. (YBH.ME) – According to new census data the Democrat Party now represents a majority of the rich and poor citizens of the United States. Conventional wisdom has always held that Republicans were the party of the rich and the Democrats the downtrodden. In a shift over the last twenty years Democrats now represent the wealthiest and the poorest areas of the United States, leaving the middle class in GOP hands.
Democrats now the party of the rich?
The odd coalition of “educated, wine-drinking Democrats”, as David Wasserman of the non-partisan Cook Political Report calls them, and poor minorities has led to two extraordinary election cycles for the Democrats since 2005. Democrats first took the House and Senate in 2005 and then rode a wave of momentum to the White House in 2008.
Warren Glimpse of Proximity, a demographer in Alexandria, Virginia states that “Democrats have made enormous gains in affluent, educated suburban districts. What’s not clear is whether this reflects a profound change or a temporary blip.”
The 2010 mid-term elections will surely be a test of whether this trend will hold.
The GOP has solidified its middle class base in recent months as the tea parties and town hall events drew a host of people to politics for the first time. Many of them are NASCAR lovers and skilled blue collar workers who will vote against the Democrats, perhaps for the first time. Whether or not these town-hallers can buck the Democrat trend is another issue entirely.
Another question is how the Democrats will handle the moniker of the “party of the rich.” The label has always been used as an effective weapon over the years to brand the Republicans as out of touch.
Related posts:
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- Firms get rich job subsidies with poor oversight
- San Francisco Democratic Party Mayoral Endorsements: Incumbents Snubbed As Party Endorses Avalos, Herrera and Onek
- We the Rich: Michael Moore deplores Wall Street greed:
John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
